Hi, I'm Peter Hurford. I work at Data Robot as a software engineer. I work remotely from Chicago, and I use machine learning to help companies understand their data and develop insights. Previously, I worked at Avant, using machine learning to reduce default rates and increase returns on marketing.

As part of being an engineer, I'm an avid open source developer. I made Vowpal Platypus, a general use, lightweight Python wrapper built on Vowpal Wabbit, that enables quick, accurate, versitile, lightweight, multi-core, out-of-core machine learning in Python. I've also made Surveytools2, which makes it easier to analyze survey data; Checkr, which brings type safety and automatic verification to R; and Batchman, which lets you write batch functions in R. I also work with Vim and Bash: Vimflow brings Vim a quick navigation system and Git-it-on makes it easy to navigate GitHub from the command line.

By night, I run a research organization called Rethink Priorities, dedicated to doing foundational research on neglected causes in a highly empirical and transparent manner. We're trying to figure out the best ways to make the world a better place. I'm also on the board of Charity Science Health, a non-profit that uses SMS reminders to boost immunization rates in India and Animal Charity Evaluators, a non-profit that researches the best way to help nonhuman animals.